The Monitor. [volume] (Woodstown, N.J.) 1884-1892, 1887-04-29
Written for the MONITOR.
DEMONIAC POSSESSION.

ueFil mas no power 10 possess people III
these latter days. lie admitted that in
Scripture times devils were permitted, in
some way, to enter into people that Christ
might work the miracle Of casting them
out and thereby convince the world of His
divinity. We know of no declaration of
Scripture of no truth demonstrated by
science to prove that man in his natural
state has in any way changed, that the
power of the devil has in any way been cur
tailed, or that his malignity toward our
race has been in any way assuaged. We
believe there are men living to-day, and
women too, possessed Of more devils than
tormented Mary Magdalene. And we be-
lieve the most effectual way by which
man can place himself under the
power and dominion Of the devil is by cx-
cessive Indulgence in strong drink. We
we're surprised that one teaching out of the
Scriptures should reason that God will
fully afflicted His creatures that, thereby,
He might work miracle. AS we under
stand the Scriptures Christ never worked
miracles, ostensibly, to convince the world
of His divinity, but to relieve suffering hui
manity. lie appealed, when teaching fail
ed. TO His works as evidence ofdiyine pow
or. The exhortation of Scripture is ''They
have Moses and the prophets; let them
hear them. If they hear not Moses and
the prophets, neither will they be persuad-
ed though one rose from the dead This
prophetic declaration was verified in the
history of the times, for the Jews declared
that Christ cast out devils by Beelzebub,
the prince of the devils. What demoniac
possession was, or how devils entered into
people the Scriptures do not tell This is
one of the many facts stated in the Scrip
lures as facts, and had ycrification in the
everyday life Of the people. Not only the
Jews but the surrounding heather came
under this power and dominion as evidenced
by the Syrophmnician girl How, then,
people came under the power and domin-
ion Of the devil, or in other words became
possessed of devils, we can only conjecture.
In order to arrive at something like a rea-
sonable conclusion, we must know some
thing of the history of the times. Sacred
and profane history assure us the Scrip
ture times was an age of drunkenness.
The heather nations paid homage to
Bacehus as the god of wine, and i'll wor-
ship gave themselves to RIGHTEOUSNESS anc
drunkenness. The Jews also paid this
! =, l,ap
terraced the hills of Judea and the slopes
Of Galilee for vineyards, and from early
morn till cyentide was heard the tread of
tile wine press aud the shout of the vintage.
In those days the nations made no proyis-
ion for the care Of the unfortunate. When
the demented could no longer be restrained
by family control they were allowed 90
roam at will. Hence the demonlac in the
tombs and the numerous instances record
ed in the Scriptures. In our insane asy-
lums, to-day, are men, demented, who, II
let loose, would re-enact all the tragedy OF
the maniac of the earlier days. The records
of these institutions show that in the ma
iority of cases therein, Righteousness and
drunkenness are the causes of insanity.
The Scriptures have sounded down the
ages this warming: ''Look not upon the
wine when it is red, when it giveth its
color in the cup, when it moveth itself
Alright: at last it biteth like a serpent and
stngeth like an adder. Can language
convey stronger portrayal of the deHriun1
tremens of the present day. Ascrpent turks
in the wine cup, and it ever has and ever
will be a terror to the inebriate No power
of persuasion, no force of logic can expel
it in the paroxysm of delirium. The Wine
cup is hel's kaleidoscope in which is a
Bacchus or devil. But there is no real
serpent in the cup you say. Whatever
there is of terror is of the imagination.
True, but what is imagination? The world
has gone into ecstacy over the beauty OF
Powers statue of the Greek slave. But
what is that statue but the result of the
sculptor's skill. SO Imagination is
but the result of some force operating
on the mind. What then is this
force that conjnres the horrid shapes
that haunt the imagination of the
inebriate? 1t is not the man himself, man
naturally shrinks from suffering and pain.
1t is not the alcohol he drank weeks and
may be years before That did its destrue-
tive work on the physical system, but,
alcohol has no power to create, no will to
command. What then but some spirit
power superior to and beyond the control
of the will Of the man? Then what spirit
powero 1t is not God. Such thought is
repulsive to all our conceptions of His III
finite goodness, mercy and love. What
then but some evil spirit? Some hidden
devil? Alcohol dethroned reason and de-
stroyed the will and made the man a
ply steal and moral wreck. The devil now
comes upon the scene and with satanic
clee parades on his imagination the me-
nagerie of hell. IIorrid shapes more hid
eous than the creations of the old myth
ologies drive him to despair. The ancients
believed that Y enus whom they worshipped
was born of the foam of the sea. SO these
horrid shapes are born of the yellow flame
that burns from the birthstone of the bot
tomless pit.
The ancient temple ON Mount Moriah